i am so in love with my english class. and not just because it's my only t/th class and it begins at 1pm.

this class is the second part of the freshman honors program, and i've already been through speech with the same group of students. so we were sitting there before the professor came in, all agreeing that we were really nervous about the class because half of her last class dropped the honors program at the semester. speech was about the hardest class we could imagine taking, and if this was somehow worse...

then dhs made her entrance. she's the kind of person who sort of commands attention - she doesn't just enter a room; she makes an entrance. you might not think so on first sight: she's short and unimposing, and her soft british accent, it would seem, is more relaxing than captivating. but as soon as she starts to say something - which, mind you, is mid-entrance - the class is hers, as she will soon formally declare. she is hilarious, sometimes subtle and deadpan; sometimes absolutely scathing. i'm sure each and every one of us will get the chance to be humiliated in this class. and i adore her.

not to say she put our fears to rest. i really don't think it's going to be worse than speech, but this class is going to kick my ass. she expects a lot of us. but i think it's going to be the most interesting, stimulating class i've ever taken. we're reading and debating the most fascinating authors: machiavelli, thoreau, plato, de beauvoir... and i'll hone my already significant writing skills, not that you could tell from this rambling excuse of a diary. (i'm allowed to be all full of myself on a couple things, and writing is one of them.) i think this is the class and the professor that can finally make me come alive. i'm earning all 10% of my grade in participation points this time, baby.

what has she got against the peace corps, anyway?

two absences are permissible in dhs' class. three and you lose half a letter off your final grade. more than three and, well, 'you might as well join the peace corps.'

heyyy! i made a new crazy major life decision yesterday, and that personally offends me. i decided to add a spanish minor and join the peace corps on an environmental assignment, followed by a long and prosperous career as a .. well, a radical left-wing environmentalist. i have this need to do something worthwhile and beneficial to the world with my life. maybe more than having a career i truly like, i need that. i wouldn't feel like there was much of a point to my existence otherwise. and i guess the peace corps sounds as good a place as any to start.

but as with all new crazy major life decisions, there is no reason to take me seriously. i've changed my majors and minors and rewritten my four-year schedule countless times just since i've been to college. they're all very ambitious, and maybe a tad unreasonable. like, right now, my degree goes something like this: political science major, economics minor, environmental studies minor, spanish minor, leadership certificate, college scholar. and besides, i'm already changing my mind. dhs has got me flirting with the idea of an english major...

afraid to roam, in love with second-best, while somewhere in the world she's hosting her own show.
Barenaked Ladies